Rifts
by readingsloth
Summary: It's just another adventure for Rose and the Doctor, until they discover something that will change both their lives forever. The Doctor's spent centuries searching for someone that won't leave him in the end, and circumstances might have finally lent themselves to make Rose that person, if they can survive the journey. Please read and review, we promise it has a happy ending!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello lovely readers! This chapter is the first in a new story collaboration between the-not-so-bad-wolf and myself. We will switch off every chapter, the-not-so-bad-wolf writing from Rose's POV and me writing from the Doctors. Please read, enjoy, and review! Thanks! **

**readingsloth**

Rose:

It was a sunny day. Too sunny to be anywhere in close proximity with London or Cardiff, Rose noted curiously. The Doctor, however, seemed to know exactly what was going on, even when he stepped out of the TARDIS and was nearly flattened by an aggravated car and a driver who was even more so. Luckily, he flattened himself up against the side of the TARDIS in time and it was only then that he could truly take a look at his surroundings.

When he reentered, the Doctor tittered nervously, and strode to the console. Rose gave him a curious look upon watching him work his jiggery pokery with the lever and switches. This wouldn't be the first time he had mixed up their location, so she questioned, "Surely we're in the right place?" But without waiting for his answer, she made a move towards the door.

"Rose! No-don't-Oi! Rose!" The Doctor couldn't seem to put his words together to form a correct, cohesive warning, and ended up dragging out the vowel of her name as he swung around the console.

Despite his warnings, Rose was already out the door. Silly timelord, she thought and rolled her eyes to herself. She too opened the door and stepped out of the TARDIS. She too was greeted similarly. But the Doctor was right there for her, and he opened the door and slipped his hand over hers, pulling her back into the TARDIS as more cars flung themselves by.

Rose shot him an incredulous look, and remarked in disbelief, "You parked in the middle of a _street?"_

The Doctor avoided her gaze and tugged his earlobe. "It wasn't exactly the middle of the street, it was more off to the side...slightly to the left…" He flashed her a brilliant grin to compensate for nearly getting her squished, and it was enough for Rose, who enjoyed pushing his buttons much more than actually chewing out his sloppy parking job.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards the console. "Allons-y, Rose! I'm gonna get it right this time!"

"And that's what you said last time too," Rose looked at him skeptically, not quite taking him seriously.

"_That_ was last time! Have you no faith in me?" Obviously she knew he was joking, but it would still have been nice to materialize where they were supposed to, for once.

In contented silence, Rose placed her hands down on the console so she would be ready when he reassessed where they should have been. The Doctor seemed extremely engrossed in what he was doing, and he was staring intently at the screen, looking a bit flustered. That's odd, Rose thought. His happy-go-lucky had grin had slid off of his face, and it almost never did, unless something was out of the ordinary- which there almost never was. She knew what his "allons-y" face looked like, and that certainly wasn't it. The face he wore was more of a mixture of confusion and disbelief. When he whipped on his glasses, Rose was sure that something was bothering him, and if it was bothering him, it should be bothering her too.

Sliding around the console to his side, she asked with concern, "Doctor, what is it?"

Rose's voice had snapped him out of his rapidly growing perplexity. When he looked at her, it was almost as if he had forgotten she had been there, and she didn't like that thought at all. The Doctor slid the screen so it was in front of her, but the added visual wasn't doing her much good because Rose and normal science weren't always a compatible pair, much less futuristic time travel science.

The Doctor leaned over her shoulder and pointed to a spiking line that she hadn't paid mind to before.

"Rose," he paused. "Do you know where we are?"

No, she didn't and she shook her head, telling him so.

"We're in California. America. And do you know why we're here?"

Rose thought this was a silly question. As if she knew. The Doctor was the one flying.

Raising her eyebrow, she looked at him and snorted, "If I did, I would let you know."

The Doctor seemed unperturbed by her sarcasm. "Remember in Cardiff a while ago, when we were refueling on rift energy? Well we need to refill right now, and the TARDIS detected readings of a similar energy that's even more powerful, called spatio-resonance energy." He glanced her way momentarily to make sure she was keeping up before continuing.

"Normally, spatio-resonance energy is something found when orbiting black holes, or surfing solar storms, and there are large concentrations of it around objects that have been transported through time and/or space. The TARDIS practically _feeds_ off of it, and that's probably why we wound up here. But the question is...why is all of this energy _here, _Rose?"

The Doctor combed his fingers through his hair, successfully messing it up, and even though Rose loved it like that, she couldn't deny that she had always wondered what it would feel like to smooth it down for him. Not that she would ever _ask_, that would be a new level of weird.

His speech was evoking interesting thoughts, however. If the Doctor didn't know what was going on, then there was little she could do to help, even though he always insisted that she knew exactly what to say and do. Rose knew that wasn't true, but she didn't bother telling him, and he seemed content in his ignorance.

"Can you trace it?" Rose worried her lip, thinking. It wasn't as if she thought it was a possibility, she was just throwing out ideas for the Doctor to chomp on and run away with.

The Doctor however, thought this was a idea. Slowly and almost inaudibly, he leaned back, staring at her with his mouth agape as if she was a god. "Rose Tyler. You are _brilliant_!"

He reached forward and he looked as if he was about to cup her face but instead, his hands just lingered in space, hovering and jerking around her head before they snapped back and he turned around on his heels. Muttering to himself about things she knew she wouldn't understand, he began to pace. The Doctor tugged his already wily hair.

As if the two were magnetic, the Doctor was pulled to the console where he began to monitor the screen while pulling various levers.

"Hold this for me, Rose. Don't let go."

"Why?"

He looked over at her and wiggled his eyebrows. "Because without it, the whole of time and space will come crumbling down around the TARDIS of course!"

"It's come to the point where I don't even know if you're kidding or not." After becoming a constant resident of the TARDIS, Rose had seen a lot and to her, nothing was too extreme.

The Doctor looked up from the console again and feigned insult, "Oi! You would think that happens on a daily basis by the way you put it!

She raised one of her eyebrows, challenging his previous statement.

He tilted his head slightly with a slightly resigned look on his face " Fine, if anything, it's every other day."

"Is that an observation, or a promise?" Rose quipped right back at him. In her eyes, the longer she was with the Doctor, the better she got with her retorts and thinking on her feet. It was as if by merely being in his presence some of his cleverness was rubbing off on her. For Rose, this was an added bonus of the Doctor because according to Rose, she was far from clever.

The Doctor chuckled to himself, shaking his head, and turned back to the controls of the TARDIS. It was truly fascinating how easily the Doctor maneuvered along the contours and crevices of the sentient ship. Flying her was an art form in herself, and no one knew the strokes and techniques more than the Doctor. Often Rose wondered how he remembered it all, but then she remembered that her best friend was nine hundred plus years old, and that thought alone drove her thoughts in a much different direction.

Rose was startled out of her thoughts by the resonating wheezing of the TARDIS. It would seem that she didn't want to go, and the Doctor was doing his best to coax her into landing. By the fuss the ship was kicking up, Rose had expected to arrive on some secret base, or on the top of the atmosphere, but that was not the case.

This time, she let the Doctor look outside first. When he reappeared and shut the door, he look extremely bewildered as he stared into space, and then at Rose. Biting her lip, Rose looked up at him expectantly. When he uttered not a peep, he just shrugged and motioned towards the door.

Rose nudged past him, eager to see what had left The Oncoming Storm so speechless, although she hoped it wasn't a speeding car this time. The door creaked as it opened slowly, and once it was completely open, Rose strode out the door.

She blinked, and her hand rose to shield her eyes from the intense rays of light.

Once she had her eyesight back, Rose blinked in astonishment.

Turning to the Doctor she queried, "Are you _sure_ you got it right?" Somehow, playgrounds, trees, dog walkers, and frisbees didn't seem like the type to give off potentially life threatening energy. In fact, the only dangerous thing she could see were woodchips: the bane of the childhood playground. Seriously, though! Who thought that putting sharp sticks in the same place as roughhousing children was a good idea?

The Doctor whipped out his sonic and scanned briefly. After affirming the readings and what he already knew, he turned to Rose and said, "Yup! This is it…" He looked around. Despite what his technology said, the Doctor was skeptical of such a peaceful, mundane place, but the readings were correct, and they had no where else to start, so the Doctor took her hand in his.

"Allons-y Rose Tyler, we have a world to save."

**Thank you all so much for reading, please review, favorite, and follow! The next chapter should be up by tomorrow!**

**readingsloth and the-not-so-bad-wolf**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello all! Thank you to all those who reviewed, favourited, and followed the last chapter! Here is number two all ready to go, sorry for the slight repeat in info at the beginning, but it's from a different POV so… This chapter was written by myself, readingsloth. Enjoy!**

**readingsloth**

The Doctors POV:

The TARDIS spun and whorled as the Doctor held on tight to the center console, praying that this time he had gotten it right. Landing in the middle of the road, while it hadn't been his worst, definitely hadn't been his best idea, and he was hoping that this time they touched down in a place where they could walk outside without being smashed.

Finally they both shook from a large bump that could only be one thing. Rose crossed over to the door and grabbed the handle, but she seemed to think better of it for a moment and peered out the window, trying to assess their surroundings.

"Is it safe to open the door, or should I wait for you to try again?" Her voice held a note of sarcasm and the Doctor knew she was kidding, but he still felt a slight bit insulted.

"Oi! It's better than walking straight into an army of Saltarans or Cybermen." Still, he approached her and gently pushed her out of the way, opening the door first and peeking around the corner. They were in a Doctor couldn't detect anything particularly dangerous about the swings or slide so he jumped out of his blue box and onto the soft green grass. No matter how many places he went in the universe, no matter how many things he saw or species he saved, he would always have a special place in his hearts for some of the aspects of planet Earth, including the grass. It was just so unique! You couldn't find grass anywhere else in the universe, not like the grass that grew here, even the grass that would line the grounds of planets that would come to be solely inhabited by the future of the human race didn't have grass like this. He didn't bother illustrating his thoughts for Rose, by the time she joined him his mind had already moved onto other things, such as the purpose for wood chips in childrens play areas.

"Alright, so now what do we do? Just wait until she's all fueled up and then leave?" The Doctor shook his head, too busy glancing around and waving his sonic at things to really pay much attention. Something around here was giving off abnormally high amounts of spatio-resonance readings, a leak in time. It was their job to make sure nothing had climbed through the tear.

"No, we _investigate_." The Doctor wiggled his eyebrows and gave Rose his classic and brilliant grin.

"Remember that spatio-resonance energy I mentioned?"

"Vaguely." He knew her answer was sarcastic. She had been paying attention earlier, she always was, and how hard was it to memorize spatio-resonance? It was practically the heart of time travel.

"Well there seems to be some sort of crack in the time space continuum, I want to figure out why." The Doctor caught sight of Rose nodding and watched as she slowly approached. Ever the agile cat, Rose started over to the Doctor, but instead of proper crouching, she unceremoniously tripped on the way down. On instinct the Doctor threw out his hand and caught her wrist before pulling her back to safety, and even closer. They sat there staring at each other for a few brief moments before the Doctor realized that he still had her warm hand encased in his palm, and quickly let go, standing up and pocketing his screwdriver.

He started to speak again, just useless chatter, his mind was far away wondering if she had noticed how long he had held her hand, if she had felt the same tingles that had been racing up and down his spine. No. He stopped himself cold. He couldn't do this, he couldn't like her, not more than a friend. It was dangerous. He would ruin her life. She would die and leave him all alone. Again. Besides, the chances that she felt something for him was so slim, it was better not to dwell on it. He didn't want to risk her friendship and companionship by making a move that would not be returned.

"Doctor?" Think of the devil. He quickly brought his attention back to the scene at hand and realized that Rose had just asked him a question, her eyes hid a twinkle and her grin a knowing smirk.

"What?" Even though he racked his brain, desperate to prove her wrong, to prove that he had not been tuning out, he came up with nothing and was forced to repeat the question.

She rolled her eyes, but answered his query. "I asked what you thought it might be."

Oh.

"Well, I mean it could be Cyberman, or just a rift in the universe...maybe Weeping Angels, or..." He trailed off, turning his head to the side and scrunching up his eyebrows.

"You have no idea, do you?"

"Absolutely no clue."

"Yep. Alright'"

"Mm hmm"

He pulled out his pair of 3D glasses and started scrutinizing the swing set, attracting quite a few concerned and worried expressions from the parents stationed on the benches on the outskirts. The Doctor wasn't concerned, he just gave them all a slight wave when he saw them staring, completely oblivious to the fact that many of them were probably considering whether or not to alert the police to this strange man walking around the playground.

The Doctors converse slapped against the wood chips as he spun away from the swings and approached the bright red slide. The kid who had just slid down sat at the bottom, staring, dumbfounded at the stranger looming over him.

"Hello! You haven't noticed anything strange around here, have you?" The little boy shook his head mutely and sat there for a second before the kid behind him got impatient and, without really looking around, the Doctor supposed, slid down, knocking the boy at the feet of the Doctor.

He helped both children up, gave a slight nod, and turned on his way.

"What was that for? His parents are probably going to report us for suspicious activity." Rose's voice was exasperated as if to say 'not again'.

"Huh? Oh, suspicious activity, yes of course. Yes alright. Well it's not really coming from over here anyway."

"What? You got that by waving the sonic around a few times and asking a five year old?" The Doctor had done a lot really crazy stuff, and in his mind this didn't even make the list, to Rose however, this seemed to be a new level of weird.

"Oh yes. Kids are a lot more reliable than adults, they spend quite a bit of time observing their surroundings, they pick up a lot more than their parents. Most kids grow up with an irrational fear of monsters living in their closets, but parents never seem to notice anything amiss. The only thing is that it's not irrational, you'd be amazed at some of the stuff you can find hiding in a childs closet."

"Alright, then why'd the TARDIS bring us here."

"For the same reason the TARDIS dumped us into the middle of the road."

"Because she has a death wish?" The Doctor thought he heard Rose mutter under her breath, but he continued as if he had heard nothing.

"Because she can't land directly on top of a rift this powerful, the energy would rip her apart, so she's landing as close as possible to it."

"So what do we do now? Just wander around aimlessly 'til we find it?"

"No. We make her bring us closer."

...

They clambered back into the TARDIS and grabbed on tightly to the center console, the Doctor flipping a few switches, banging on a few things, and muttering a few choice words. The TARDIS seemed to leap for a minute, the walls and floor starting to fade and the familiar wheezing noise beginning, but then it hit the ground with a loud bump, the sounds stopped, and the time machine became opaque.

"Are we there already? Short trip." The Doctor strode over to the doors and yanked one open. He found himself staring into the light of the sun. The same sun. In the same spot.

"We didn't go anywhere?" Rose pointed out the obvious, slightly dumbfounded. The TARDIS had never failed them before.

"Well..." The Doctor scratched his ear, his head at a forty five degree angle, attempting to find some answer without letting Rose know that he had messed up. Suddenly his eyes became wide and he threw his hands out.

"Oh that is _brilliant_! Oh good girl!" Seeing his companions confused look he hurried to explain.

"We're not in the same place as last time, just very very close. The TARDIS can't get much closer to the rift, so she's pointing us in the right direction. Oh brilliant! All we have to do now is find the road we first started at, the place we were last time, and the place we are now, they should make a line. We can figure out which way we need to go!" The Doctor wracked his brain for any sign of symbol they could use to identify the other places they had landed. He vaguely remembered a stop sign with sticker of a dog, and he turned towards the highway that led into the park running over to the only visible sign.

"Yep!" He called out to Rose, looking incredibly pleased. She didn't seem to be paying too much attention to the Doctor however, her eyes were glued to a large imprint on the grass in the shape of a large square.

"Think this could be where we were last time?" It was only a few paces away from where the TARDIS currently resided and made a line obvious.

"Alright then, I guess we go this way." Both of them started in the direction that had been made apparent, leading right into the heart of San Francisco.

**We hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Continue to read, review, favorite, and follow! The next chapter should be up by next Sunday! Thanks!**

**readingsloth and the-not-so-bad-wolf**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello lovely readers! Thank you to all those who read and reviewed the last chapters! Sorry this is a bit late, but I hope it was worth it!**

Why on Earth (or Gallifrey, she supposed) did the Doctor have to have such a lanky figure? Rose struggled to keep up with his gait as the two of them strode away from the playground and park. The warm afternoon sun shone down on them, and Rose was content to leave most of the tracking and talking to the Doctor. That's usually how it went anyways, and she didn't mind, although sometimes it felt like he did all the work and Rose got some of the credit for it. The Doctor was oblivious to it all of course.

Before she knew it, the sense of comfort that the pleasant park had provided slipped away, as did the remaining greenery. When Rose looked behind her, she could just barely make out the top of the TARDIS over a hill, and the sidewalk had long since started. Deciding that it would be better to watch where she was going, should she run into the Doctor or a lamppost.

No one would believe Rose if she told them about the looks they were getting from locals. They ranged from cautious, weirded out, to down right disdain. Rose attributed this to the Doctor stopping in the middle of the sidewalk every so often while he readjusted the sonic screwdriver, which caused everyone walking behind them to halt suddenly and bump into the person before them in a large and amusing domino effect.

After this had happened quite a few times, the Doctor finally caught on, looked at Rose, looked behind him to see all of grouchy faces, and back at Rose. He opened and shut his mouth in a perfect "o" a few times while he glanced back and forth. A bashful cringe appeared on the Doctor's face and to save him from the now very angry looking pedestrians behind them, Rose took his hand and pulled him to the side of the sidewalk, out of everyones way.

"Was I being rude?" At this, Rose laughed. For someone centuries old and so brilliantly intelligent, he was still completely unaware of his surroundings and constantly stuck out like a sore thumb.

Rose rolled her eyes and watered down the truth just a tad when she said, "A little bit. Now, how close are we getting?"

The events of the last minutes suddenly forgotten, the Doctor launched into a spiel about how the many electronics and large buildings in the city were diluting the signal, making it harder to follow. Apparently, they should be on the lookout for a huge, technologically advanced office-y looking building.

Because that really narrows it down.

The Doctor took her hand and pulled her with him further into the city. Spatio-resonance energy would interfere with time travel technology, the Doctor had informed her, so when the sonic screwdriver started flickering, the pair of them shared a giddy grin and picked up the pace.

By now, Rose had no idea where they were, but the buildings had turned to skyscrapers and the blinking of the sonic had turned to an all out strobe light. They had walked twists and turns, feeling their way through the dark with nothing but the sonic to guide the way, and Rose would have gotten lost about an hour ago if it weren't for that device and the Doctor's firm grip on her hand.

Her tireless Timelord finally halted outside of a smaller building, and Rose inhaled deeply despite the noxious quality of the air. About halfway through the long hike she had begun to feel sore, and now that the Doctor had finally stopped, the feeling caught up to her.

Following his gaze, she took in the building in front of her. It was tall, ten stories high when she counted the windows, and it was sleek and modern. The amount of glass was astonishing. Where there wasn't framing to keep the structure of the huge establishment, there was glass. Most of it wasn't even tinted (unless you count the slightly blue coloring); one could see right into the offices. It gave the entire place an open and honest feeling, even if the modern architecture countered by giving off a vibe of cold detachment. It was the kind of building where, if it could talk, would shock you with brutal, uncaring honesty.

The sign above the double, automatic doors reads: _Mechanic Mastery: Innovating the Past, Present, and Future. _Rose found the name curious and incredibly vague. For a place built with nothing to hide, the business title sure suggested otherwise. On the flip side, perhaps it was one of those corporations that made tons of things but no one ever actually knew that they were behind it, Rose reasoned.

By now, the sonic had gone wild, and the Doctor glanced over at her mischievously. "Fancy a little digging?" He held out his elbow.

"Don't mind if I do!" Rose snaked her arm through his and they walked in synch through the doors.

A cool blast of air buffeted them upon entrance, and the cold air went hand in hand with the cold design. The tiles were a sterile white; Rose could almost see her reflection when she looked down at them. The Foyer into which they had stepped was shockingly large...bigger on the inside, perhaps? The Doctor seemed to notice this too, and watching him glance around with the familiar calculating yet stumped look confirmed Rose's thoughts. They were indeed in the midst of something unearthly.

The Doctor tugged her forward, past the uncomfortable looking white chairs and a coffee table that looked structurally unsound. The latter was difficult for Rose to wind around without nearly knocking it over because not only was it in the center of the foyer, but it balanced precariously on only one leg.

After walking through the inconveniently placed 'lounge' area, they reached the front desk. It was similar to that on a hotel desk, where the actual office was closed off behind a wall. No one was manning the desk, which was not only suspicious, but very unprofessional in such a seemingly well-run organization.

Rose took another glance round, and this time without the intent of taking in her surroundings. She nudged the Doctor with her arm, which was still wrapped around his.

"Doctor, something's not right here…"

The Doctor turned the two of them around and together they tried to puzzle over why such a normal, corporate business was absolutely deserted.

"Why would there be no one here on a perfectly fine afternoon? It's obviously not a public holiday, but it's completely barren!" The Doctor queried both to Rose and to himself before he turned back to the desk.

"We could always ask people in neighboring lots," Rose suggested.

"Good idea, but a bit...conventional, don't you think?"

It was a splendid idea, but Rose did agree that there were more exciting ways to get to the bottom of their investigation. In a fashion similar to an impatient child, the Doctor rang the desk bell a good fifteen times before rocking back and forth on his heels, hands clasped, and with a very obliviously pleasant deportment.

Minutes passed.

Growing impatient, the Doctor turned on his heels and strode out, with Rose following in suit.

Looking up, Rose observed, "There aren't any people in those offices either. No one would invest this much in a place and never use it unless they needed a convincing facade, I think."

The Doctor turned slowly towards her, and a brilliant, energizing smile graced his face.

"Wher_ever_ would I be without you?!" The Doctor beamed.

"Certainly not here," Rose quipped as they walked around the side of the building.

The Doctor chuckled. "Don't get cheeky with me Rose Tyler, you don't know what you're in for."

"I'll take my chances."

(I didn't get done what I planned in this chapter so I'll keep writing but we could end it right here)

The trusty sonic screwdriver never failed them, it seemed. After finding a utility door located at the back of the building, it again proved it's worth. The door seamlessly clicked open, and they entered a large boiler room, filled with, well, boilers. In addition to the obvious, there were ventilation systems, turbines, and no shortage of pipes.

Like they were of one mind, the Doctor and Rose simultaneously peered at each other, and then at the vents. The Doctor began sonicking the bolts that held one together when Rose acknowledged a new concern.

"Doctor, how will we know where we're going?"

The Doctor furrowed his brow and seriously considered her question. "We won't. Our best shot is to stick with the sonic." He gestured down to where the sonic was continuing to blink.

"I'll bet my trench coat that we can still follow the signal from inside the vents." He gestured the now open vent and bowed. "After you, m'lady!"

Rose snorted, "Some date you are!" Regardless, she crawled into the vent, and the Doctor followed after.

**A/N: Ugh this chapter was a pain in the butt. I kept freaking out about the minimum word count and dragged a few things out too long and it has absolutely no purpose and TOTALLY sucks but whatever...I also didn't get done what I had planned to do but life got in the way. I hope you guys aren't as disappointed with this chapter as I am. R&amp;R!**

**~the-not-so-bad-wolf**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all! Thanks to all those who read, reviewed, favourited, or followed the last chapter, we really enjoy the feedback! This one is really long, but hopefully will be a nice treat to start your week with. Enjoy!**

**readingsloth **

_The Doctors POV:_

Not for the first time the Doctor cursed this regenerations lanky body. Rose, who was a good deal shorter than himself, was having a _much _easier time navigating the cold vents. He took almost twice as long as she did to drag himself around corners, his feet inevitably getting caught on the angle, and where she easily slid down the slight drops and pulled herself around, he had to bend his body into all sorts of weird and uncomfortable shapes.

As a matter of fact, the only advantage he saw to being tall was that it wasn't him that accidentally fell down a story.

He had warned Rose to be careful; to watch where she was going. But in the rush she was in to keep moving so that he wouldn't get impatient, she had taken a left turn and tumbled down with a loud crash, denting the metal.

Although he almost never swore, this was one of those times when he was more than tempted to utter a few choice words.

"Rose? Are you alright?" He whispered to her in the loudest voice he could. The Doctor was sure that the noise that had come as a product of her hitting the aluminum vents had already alerted any living creature in the building to their presence, but he wasn't about to make it worse by shouting, no matter how worried he was.

"Yeah... I'm alrigh'. A little banged up, and I'll definitely have bruises in the morning, but I think I'm okay." She whisper-yelled back, an embarrassed expression on her face.

"You need to get out of that area, when they come to investigate the noise the first place they're going to look is where the big human sized dent is. Is there another tunnel or turn? I'll be down in just a minute."

"What, you have a lot of experience falling through air ducts?" Even though her tone was sarcastic, she quickly wiggled as far away from that spot as she could, her voice fading away.

"More than you might expect." He muttered under his breath as he tried to find a way down. They had been careful to stay on one level for the entirety of their journey, but now that Rose had just gone down a floor, the Doctor would have no choice but to follow her. The only challenge was to find a way that wouldn't draw even more attention than just jumping.

It really was too bad he couldn't levitate.

Suddenly, an idea came to him and he called down to his companion in the loudest voice he was willing to risk.

"Hey Rose. Are you wearing a sweater?" She responded with a slightly confused and hesitant yes.

He removed his own trench coat, slipping his psychic paper into the pocket of his pinstriped pants, he then dropped the aforementioned coat down the duct, so that it fell and landed in a pile with a slight rustle and tinny clang.

"Take off your sweatshirt. Pile it on top of my coat. There you go." He instructed her as she moved to follow his directions. There was now a pretty decent amount of cloth between him and the metal, and while it wouldn't completely muffle his landing, it should be quiet enough not to draw so much attention.

With a slight struggle he removed his iconic converse and lightly dropped them, wearing them would only make the inevitable crash louder. He waited for a hand to reach into his line of view and snatch up the shoes before lowering himself down. He was getting ready to let go of the ledge when he remembered something.

He had put down his screwdriver during all the excitement and forgotten to pick it up again, and now his hand reached out, searching for any sign of the sonic. Suddenly his fingers curled around the familiar piece of metal (which was still blinking), and he let out a small sigh of relief, placing the screwdriver in between his teeth and dropping down as gently as he could.

The clothes made his landing a little less painful, but he still felt jolts of shock travel up his body, turning his spine to liquid, and causing both his hearts to beat a little harder.

The Doctor lowered himself so that he was lying parallel to the ground and started crawling in the direction he knew Rose had taken, only just remembering to snatch up their clothes and drag them after him.

...

They crawled on until Rose hit a metal grating, peering out at what appeared to be an empty room. She looked back at him for guidance, and he gave a curt nod, indicating for her to do her best to get them out of there. The adrenaline of trying to escape was all at once shutting his brain down and turning up the speed. It was a sensation he was used to working with, and he trusted his instincts enough to know to follow them when he was in danger.

While the Doctor had been having an entire eternal debate, Rose had been doing her best to open the grate, but was finding her efforts to be fruitless. She grabbed the Doctors hand, pulling him back to reality, and gestured towards the sonic. His eyes lit with understanding and he reached to unscrew the grate. Because the duct was so narrow he didn't really have room to squeeze past her, all he could do was stretch his arm, and the movement left them in a sort of awkward position, with him lying pressed up tight against Rose, her head buried in his chest.

He didn't move for a few seconds after he had soniced open the air duct.

Suddenly the moment was over and they both blushed, glancing at each other nervously before the Doctor slowly removed the vent opening and peeked out into the room. They only looked more like spies when he nimbly jumped to the ground, raising his hand to help her, afraid of any more tumbles.

They now found themselves in what appeared to be a janitors closet. The lights were off, and the sonic cast an eerie green glow on their surroundings. Mops and brooms lined the walls, and the sharp smell of disinfectant lingered in the air.

Rose and the Doctor did a quick trade off, him giving her the sweater, and Rose dropping his converse at his feet. He shrugged on his coat and did his best to pull on the bright red shoes.

"Can't you get them on any faster?" Rose was looking at him with barely veiled impatience gracing her features. He did his best to oblige her, but it was impossible. He _was_ wearing converse after all.

Finally, he finished tying the laces and she pulled him back to a standing position. A sudden sound reached their ears, it was the pounding of what sounded like dozens of footfalls, but definitely not human. They were much less thump and much more sliding. It was one of those things the Doctor was incredibly proud of, that he could tell species apart by just the sound of their footsteps. There weren't many others in the universe that could claim that particular talent.

He didn't instantly recognize the species that was currently running around outside, meaning he either hadn't met it, in which case even if they were caught, he was in for a treat, or he had rarely interacted with them, meaning that they probably hadn't been causing too much trouble, and wouldn't be that hard to beat. Still, he wasn't willing to risk going outside on the off chance that they actually ended up being dangerous.

Rose stood tethered to his side, breathing in shallow breaths, as if afraid they would hear her and capture them. It was only after the Doctor was sure that they had passed that he grabbed Rose's hand and slowly eased the door open.

They were in the basement.

He looked behind him and locked eyes with Rose before they both took off at full sprint in what the Doctor presumed to be the opposite direction from the way the aliens had just gone. He didn't spend much time thinking about how, since it there were only two possible directions, he was probably running in the same direction the aliens had just come from.

They ran on as quickly and quietly as they could, neither letting go of the others hand. The hallways were cold cement and the floor echoed as their feet hit the ground. Occasionally they would come to a dead end, and the Doctor would pull Rose one way or another without a second of consideration.

There was one thing that both of them failed to notice, but that, in hindsight, would have been a good thing to pay attention too. The sonic was beeping faster and faster, like a tracking device as it continued to get closer and closer.

The Doctor's mistake caught up to them as they turned a wrong corner and ran _right_ into the aliens they had been trying so hard to avoid.

The Doctor heard Rose give a small gasp to his left, but nothing she was feeling could mirror the surprise he was experiencing.

A Niaxorikan.

The small creature stood at about four foot four with four eyes, four arms, and the brightest orange skin color you have ever seen, with flecks of purple. Much like clownfish change gender when a new space opens up in their colony, Niaxorikans changed color as they moved up, or down, in the ranks. The orange tone of this one suggested that it was a lower level soldier, no where near the top of the command chain.

The Doctor was familiar with this race. It was a race that he had visited many times, and, although his experience told him that most of the times when some extraterrestrial creature was on earth all hell was about to break loose, he wasn't afraid. The only thing that stood out to him was that they _were_ on a different planet.

"Hello! I'm just here to investigate a disturbance in the vents, you know, routine maintenance. I heard that you were afraid of a security breach?" Even though the Doctor had never heard of them being violent, he had never heard of them leaving their home planet either, and yet, here they were.

The Doctor flashed his psychic paper, and the Niaxorikan gave a slight nod, leading them deeper down the hallway. Rose held him back for a minute, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him down so that she could whisper in his ear.

"What _are _they?"

"They're called the Naixorika. They're from the planet Naixori orbiting Beetlejuice. I've never heard of them anywhere else, they're not the most... Well... _technologically advanced."_

Rose nodded as if he had just reported the day of the week, or the weather forecast. He supposed it wasn't the weirdest thing he had ever told her.

"They had a revolution pretty recently and overthrew the race that had been in the lead for centuries, so all these creatures started coming out of the woodwork and started their own government, but before that they had all been living in the jungles and forests, so it's taken them a while to adjust to leading a world." Rose nodded in understanding, but she didn't have time to do much more than basically process this information because they had arrived at their destination.

The room they had been led into was as large as the lobby had been, but it wasn't empty and cold. Even though the walls were still concrete with the pipes exposed and they could hear the echoes of dozens of different voices.

The Naixorikan brought them over to where an alien with white skin so bright it seemed to glow was standing.

"Maintanence, they say sir."

The Doctor thought this would be a fantastic time to share what might end up being a very important piece of information, and leaned down to whisper it in her ear.

"The white skin color signifies that he is the leader of their military. The commander in chief, if you will. I wonder why they brought us to him instead of a worker." It was amazing he didn't see what was right in front of him.

"Maintenance, you are not. We have met before. You are him, sir. You are the Doctor."

"Oh...! Umblevora? I didn't recognize you! Nice skin, you've moved up."

"And who is this?" The Naixorikan gestured to Rose, all four of his fingers pointing in her direction. Rose grew visibly uneasy under the direct attention of the alien.

"Oh, yes! This is my friend Rose. Now what are you lot doing on Earth? In San Francisco, no less. Last time I talked to you all, you were just getting around to inventing a reliable economy!"

The alien turned as if to walk away, but first it seemed that Rose had a question.

"Wait, so you two know each other? What, did you meet in an interplanetary bar, or somethin'?"

"The Doctor helps us." With that he turned and walked away, indicating for them to follow.

"Very enigmatic, they are. They can only speak in groups of four as well, makes communication a nightmare." The Doctor muttered under his breath, intending for only Rose to hear him.

"Four eyes, four arms, four fingers, four words, four feet. What's with all the fours?" His companions question was perfectly innocent, but he still gestured for her to keep her voice down. This new version of the Naixorika was making him nervous. They were much more businesslike than they had been, they had matured tremendously since the last time he had been to visit them. The Doctor didn't like it, but perhaps this was because he thought growing up in general was rubbish.

"They worship the number. They believe that in the beginning the four deities built Naixori and its four moons and created the Naixorika to be their protectors and worshippers."

"So why not four legs?"

"Four legs, Rose? Come on, don't be silly! Where would they put the extra two?" She just rolled her eyes, smiling, and followed him as they wound their way deeper into the large room.

**Alright, hope you liked that and it wasn't boring or too long. We will do our very best to have the next chapter up by next Sunday or Monday, but life is pretty hectic and crazy, so bear with us. Things are just starting to heat up and I look forward to you guys reading what comes next! Please please please please please review, even if you'd like something to be changed, especially if you'd like a change. We want this to be a fanfic that you guys love reading, and we love hearing how we could change it to make it one. Thanks! Enjoy your week!**

**readingsloth**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: You guys have got another thing coming in this chapter oh-ho-ho! I hope you like it, I cranked it out in one day because I procrastinate to the max, and I had a tough time getting through a lot of it. Enjoy!**

_She just rolled her eyes, smiling, and followed him as they wound their way deeper into the large room. _

_Rose's POV:_

The Doctor kept up light conversation with the Niaxorikan like they were old friends-which, knowing the Doctor, they probably were. The race seemed friendly enough, but sometimes Rose caught a few of them looking at her with petulant envy in their eyes. Now, this made Rose incredibly uneasy, but she assumed it was because they were jealous that she was closer to the Doctor than they were.

Her conjecture was confirmed when, from the moment they stepped out of a dim hallway and into a much larger room, the Doctor was quite literally _swarmed _by throngs of little four-armed aliens, each of relatively the same orange color. They all surrounded him, hugging him, prodding him, and nudging him like children with their mother. From what Rose had gathered, he kind of was, what with practically founding the planet and all.

An image popped into her mind. It must have been the motherly way the Doctor interacted with the little creatures because she imagined the funniest picture of the Doctor in a pink apron with a platter of cookies. Perhaps a bit loudly, Rose cracked up.

Silence.

Dotting her eyes a bit after she had composed herself, Rose looked up to notice that everyone's eyes were on her, even the Doctor's, although he looked altogether _quite_ amused with her outburst.

Smiling, the Doctor addressed his admiring hoard, "Oh, and this is Rose! Everyone say hi!" He seemed to think that a formal introduction would be enough to subdue their unease, and was disappointed when no one moved.

Rose stood where she was, rocking on her heels, and cast an uncomfortable look Niaxorikans separated when the Doctor made a move to free himself of the crowd.

When he reached her, she whispered, "I don't think they like me too much, Doctor…"

"Nonsense! They just...uh...need a bit of coaxing!" The Doctor seemed content with his answer, but Rose knew that it was just because he didn't want her feeling bad.

His hand tightened around hers, and Rose swallowed in apprehension. What if they completely rejected her? There was really no reason for her to be worried about it, she realized, they were aliens, not a boss in a job interview. She had faced Daleks! A bunch of skeptic softies should be nothing.

Nonetheless, when the Doctor pulled her into the center of the crowd with him, she stared right back at the dozens of eyes, and smiled at them. The aliens backed up a pace or two.

It really was quite the sight. The Doctor and Rose, in the middle of a crowd of distrusting little aliens, bravely facing it all. The Doctor and Rose.

After a handful of beats and heavy silence, the aliens seemed to have made up their minds, and for the better. When they grinned back up at her, she saw rows of rounded teeth and everyone's faces turned up. Classic, Rose thought. Smiles are the same on every planet!

The distance between the two travelers and the numerous Niaxorikans closed quickly and the Doctor and Rose were crushed together under the weight of dozens of Niaxorikans embracing them and emitting noises that varied from cat purrs to squeals.

Rose completely had the wind knocked out of her, and was almost glad when the white, eminent Niaxorikan called for them all to resume working. Air had almost never been so welcomed in her lungs.

"I knew they'd come around." The Doctor looked down at her, looking slightly smug, but Rose knew that he was secretly glad they had accepted her.

For the first time, they both got the chance to look around the room. The boiler room from which they had entered had nothing on this cavernous room. If it weren't for the noise of hundreds of machines firing up, then the place would be dead silent. Only it wasn't, because each machine threw echos that bounced around the gigantic hall, resulting in absolute cacophony.

Machines blew steam, rumbled, and each Niaxorikan grudgingly went back to working them. Lights flickered, and it seemed that the entire Earth shook, not just the machinery. Everything had a shiny, chrome polish, giving the place a futuristic feel. Most of the tools had keyboards not unlike the console of the TARDIS, and this is what made the Doctor the most curious.

Perplexed, he talked to whoever would listen. "How did they get their hands on such advanced technology? They were just developing! What are they doing here? Why do they have all of this? Time technology, that's what this is, Rose. How did they get it all?"

Obviously, Rose didn't know, but she was intrigued by the points brought up by the Doctor. Why were they even on Earth? She walked (okay, so she wandered) off a bit, and practically got lost amongst the grid-like and incredibly repetitive layout of appliances. There seemed to be no end.

One peculiarity that she noticed was that every cluster of apparatuses was circled around four strange post-like objects. They protruded from the floor at the center of the circle like gnarled, slightly hooked fingers. Each was across from the other, so that each pair was perpendicular to the other pair. Wires extended from each curved post and wound their way into the machines. Observation led Rose to believe that each post was hooked up to one device.

The wires (there was no end of wires) fed into a large, cylindrical tank, which in turn was hooked up to incredibly large computers, with keyboards like the console that Rose and the Doctor had noticed earlier. Monitors were hooked up to each of these computers, and displayed a variety of technical terms that Rose didn't understand, but drove on her curiosity.

Watching the Niaxorikans work was what yielded the most information. One alien was stationed at each computer, and after some serious button pressing and lever pulling, green lights flashed from the top of the entire thing, and it began a low-key whirring. One by one, the computers indicated that they were "ready" and the soft whirring turned to a loud gratin. The ground around them did shake, Rose was sure of it this time.

The tanks hissed, and the four frames emitted a soft yellow light that turned intense, and golden. The space in between the frames was slowly filled with a dazzling, goldenrod sphere. After the sphere had consumed the frames, it began to recede. At first, Rose wasn't sure of where it had gone, or what point this even had until she realized that the tanks were being filled up. This, Rose realized, must be the spatio-resonance energy the Doctor was talking about.

Rose didn't fully understand it, but she knew that this was bad news. Spatio-resonance energy was serious time and space science, and meddling with it would have consequences. The Doctor would understand, but where was he? Did he notice that she had walked off? With a humorless laugh, she acknowledge that he probably had, and would be less than pleased when he found her again.

Although, it seems that she was saved the trip.

The Doctor appeared right over her shoulder, and was looking at her in the funniest way.

"Can you believe what's going on here? This is much more than I ever expected." The Doctor tugged at his hair and glanced around. If this wasn't such a frustrating situation, Rose would have laughed at the fact that he was wearing his glasses again. She knew he didn't actually need them; he just wanted to look clever.

He steered her around by the waist, and the two of them were facing a cluster of white and gold Niaxorikans. They did not look amused.

The Doctor put forth his bravado and said innocently, "Love what you've got going here! Fantastic work! Although…" his voice dropped to a more threatening tone, "I can't, for the life of me, understand why you need to harness such large quantities of energy from time itself. Why would such a peaceful race be opening rifts in the heart of time?"

"And where are you putting it?" Rose looked at the Doctor and said not too subtly, "I don't know about you, Doctor, but this is looking pretty suspicious. You might almost think they're...hiding something!"

Feeling as though they had the upper hand, the Doctor guided himself and Rose through the crowd and in front of another cluster of the energy sucking contraptions. Again, the Doctor stepped forward to face who was clearly in charge. Even though he towered over the alien, there was still a clashing air of authority. The eminent Niaxorikan glared up at the Doctor, a show which was unusual, given the warm welcome they had received.

"You must stop meddling. This doesn't concern you. Leave now, or else." The gravelly voice of the extraterrestrial creature was extremely offsetting, and the throng around them began to move towards Rose in one direction, and the Doctor in another as the levels of tension rose to crackling levels.

Now, they were breathing down each other's chests (not literally, the Doctor was much taller) and the Doctor had donned his "Oncoming Storm" voice.

"Or else _what?_"

The machines roared to life.

Rose had been apprehensively watching this exchange from a few meters behind the Doctor, but she turned her attention to a more pressing matter in regards to herself. The other Niaxorikans had encroached her personal space and were pressing her backwards, forcing her to relinquish her footing.

The Doctor whirled around, pure terror on his face.

One would be surprised at how difficult it was to push back a mob of short aliens. Rose certainly was. It felt like everything was in a bubble of frustration. Futilely she pushed at them, and louder the roaring got. The bubble was growing bigger, and Rose worried about what would happen when it popped.

Her name tore through the Doctor's throat as he fought to reach her. She couldn't understand why he looked like their very lives were teetering on a precipice until she herself turned around.

And what she saw was petrifying.

The glowing orb of time was mere feet behind her.

Now fully panicked, Rose strained harder against the Niaxorikans, but the problem was, they pushed harder too.

"Doctor!"

He was so close, they could almost grab hands. They had to grab hands. Her life depended on it.

"Just don't look at it, Rose! Look at me, okay? C'mon, almost there!"

She clung onto the Doctor's words like they were her last anchor, but behind her, time beckoned. It sung a soothing song, and Rose wasn't afraid. But what about the Doctor? Even though she will have been the one to die, it would slowly rip him apart until nothing remained.

Rose shed a tear, and time slowed down around her as she turned back to face the Doctor.

Their hands brushed; it was the last thing she would feel. Rose stared him right in the eyes, willing him to see everything she wanted to tell him.

L'appel du vide. Everything felt okay. Despite the tears on both of their faces, Rose smiled.

Her fingers slipped off his, and she fell backwards into the void.

The warmth of time enveloped her, singing, and Rose had never felt more serene. This was the end.

The Doctor and Rose, facing everything together. The Doctor and Rose.

And then, in the blink of an eye, it was just the Doctor.

_She fell in slow motion, the way a song ends. In her mind she was terrified, but her heart saw clearly. She would remember him always. Not even death would be able to take him from her. From her final moment to her last thought, she had memorized his face, his voice, his hearts, and loved every part of him. She would always remember what she was leaving behind. She would always remember him. There was no pain, no remorse, just love. She fell with her love, and she knew there was no better way to go._

**A/N: WELL READERS, THAT WAS A HEARTBREAKER! Seriously though, I'm listening to Finish Line by Snow Patrol and crying. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was hell to write let me tell you! Please read and review. I'm not just saying that, it really helps the two of us with our writing and in knowing what you want more or less of. Now I'm gonna go dab at my tears, so please tell me what you thought!**

**~the-not-so-bad-wolf**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm sorry! I'm, so, so, so, so, sorry! Please don't hate me! I know it took forever for this chapter to be posted, but hopefully it was worth it. Thanks to all those who reviewed, favourited, and followed. It means the world to us!**

**readingsloth**

"Rose!" The Doctor exclaimed, his voice full of anguish. She was lying in a "Rose!" The Doctor exclaimed, his voice full of anguish. She was lying in a heap a few feet away from the Rift, the opening of time that she had been thrust into. She had been thrown out almost immediately after being absorbed, their just wasn't room in the heart of time for anything else. It didn't look like she was breathing.

Being pushed into time was bad. Like, really bad. Like, rip even the strongest of creatures to pieces. The Doctor was amazed that Rose was still in whole. Still, he had no idea how the Rift would affect her fragile human body. Now wasn't really the time to worry about that, however. He had more pressing issues then figuring out the secrets of time energy, and one of them was getting Rose out of this situation. There was no way she was dead, it just wasn't possible. Not Rose. Not his Rose. And if he was going to save her, then the first step was getting her someplace safe.

The Niaxorikans were still crowding around him, and they had taken up a new chant. "Death to the Doctor! Death to the Doctor! Death to the Doctor!" Usually being surrounded by aliens that wanted to kill him wasn't a big deal to the Doctor, at least it wasn't a new situation, but this time it was different. This time there was no mercy or kindness, no misunderstood species or running away, no peaceful surrender. He would escape, yes. He would run. But then he would come back and make them pay for what they had done to Rose. He would make them pay.

He willed his big brilliant nine hundred year old brain to come up with an idea to save them both, but he came up empty, so he did what he usually did. He improvised and pulled out his sonic. Suddenly another stupidly smart idea came to mind.

"Careful!" He warned the Niaxorikans as he flashed his screwdriver in the faces of the aliens, the familiar sound calming him slightly. They seemed to skitter nervously, and a few took a step backwards.

"It's only a screwdriver! Remember the Doctors screwdriver? It's not a weapon!" The leaders words were meant to reassure his comrades, but they had an anxious undertone to them that did nothing to calm the others. The Doctor had been counting on this. Counting on them having a limited knowledge of technology; he had been right.

"Just a screwdriver? You sure about that? Sure you want to risk it?" He started getting closer to the Niaxorikans. A few of them looked ready to turn and run, and he held his breath, both his hearts beating in double-time.

Then the leader spoke up again. "He must not escape. Master will kill us. Doctor can not escape." The creatures took a few steps forward, spurred on by the mention of the "master". The mention of a master took the Doctor by surprise, and distracted him for a minute. It made sense. There was no way that such a new race would have been able to develop such impressive technology without outside help. It wasn't that the Doctor was worried, he just had to slightly reavaluate.

"Alright, that's fair, but I'm still not sure that I would risk it." He put on an aura of comfort and confidence, an easy tilt of the head and scratch of his ear, even though everything in him was burning up in a strange mix of fury and an intense worry, all related to the figure crumpled on the floor just out of arm's reach. "You could let us go and possibly face death at the hands of a master a while from now, or you could take your chances with me and get killed right now. After what you did to her, you're not escaping alive."

"The Doctor won't kill. He is too kind. He is too scared." The Doctor fell out of his rehearsed pose and gave an intense stare to the alien who had dared to speak up, showing just a fraction of his inner anger.

"Don't do this. Don't be another in a long line of creatures that has mistaken my kindness for fear. I am not scared, and I am not kind. I used to like you. I helped you. I brought you from huts in the woods to civilized society! But that ends today. You hurt her. You hurt Rose. You don't get kindness anymore." Suddenly the Doctor shouted as loud as he could, and the Niaxorikans all ducked or screamed. The situation had been so intense that all he had to do was make a sudden noise, and he was given enough time to run over to Rose and scoop her off the ground and into his arms.

He didn't have time to feel for a pulse, instead turning on his feet and running as fast as he could towards where he remembered the exit to the building to be. Luckily, due to their extra arms and general body shape, the Niaxorikans were a little top heavy, and they couldn't run too fast, so it wasn't as hard as he had expected to make it to a stairwell that he hoped led somewhere close to the doors. From there he darted outside, and they were home free.

The aliens weren't willing to risk leaving the safety of their building. There were plenty of species who had no problem being in the world of the humans. They weren't afraid to be identified or discovered, and they knew enough about earthen technology and customs to be unafraid of being hit by a car. Luckily the Niaxorikans didn't function this way.

It had started to rain since they had entered the building, and the Doctor tried to shield his Rose from the downpour, pulling her closer to his body. She still wasn't breathing.

They were getting quite a few strange looks as the Doctor carried his companion to safety, but the Doctor wasn't paying attention. He was too worried about getting back to the TARDIS and doing everything in his power to save Rose.

Finally, after what felt like hours, but was really a mere fifteen minutes, the Doctor arrived at his ship. He threw open the doors and ran center console, ignoring the glowing lights of the console and the way they were both dripping all over the floor.

He set her down on a couch just off to the side of the main control panel, lying her flat out on her back, and sat for a minute trying to wrestle the emotions raging inside him to come up with a smart plan. He watched her carefully, praying to see some sign of life, but he was disappointed. Her face was pale, her lips slowly becoming whiter, her chest wasn't rising like it would have been if she was really alive. The Doctor couldn't bring himself to check for a pulse, afraid of what might happen if he didn't feel anything.

Suddenly he tore himself away from Rose's body and let out a cry of frustration, kicking the thing nearest to him. Of course, it did nothing. It didn't even make him feel calmer. As fast as this outburst had come on it disappeared and he crumpled against the wall. It felt as though everything inside him was breaking, and he imagined himself shattering into millions of pieces and getting lost alongside Rose. Dead Rose. Imagined himself sinking into the floor and simply being absorbed, lost in the TARDIS, lost in time, lost in anguish. Lost. And he was totally okay with it.

He felt empty, the same emptiness that had plagued him right after Gallifrey had been destroyed, but this was worse. She had been young. She had trusted him. She had had her whole life ahead of her, a life filled with moments with Mickey and her mothers hugs, and a wedding, and the birth of her first child. She was supposed to grow old, supposed to hold her grandchildren, she was supposed to live, and the Doctor had taken that away from her. He had intruded into her life and now she was gone. He had destroyed her. And she had trusted him. He had promised.

The Doctor knew better than anyone that time didn't heal all wounds.

He lay there for he didn't know how long, his tears mixing with the rain from his hair and falling to make a puddle around his head. He was so lost in pain that he didn't realize that there was something happening. Something miraculous.

Rose was glowing.

It wasn't very strong, and he wasn't really sure what it meant, but it was still something. He scrambled to his feet and over to her bedside, the first sparks of hope alighting both his hearts, even though he tried to tamp it down, terrified of another disappointment.

She was still in the same position, her arms against her side, head pointing up, but now there was a faint hint of something else. A slight change in her complexion. A glow. It was illuminating the room, and suddenly the Doctor had an idea. It wasn't a very good idea, an idea driven by insanity and desperation, but it was still an idea. He recognized that faint glow. It was time energy, and it was slowly consuming Rose's body.

It was time energy that allowed him to regenerate, so if he could do this... Aha! He pulled a few levers and flipped a few switches, acting without thinking, and he could see the light take on a direction, as if it was being pulled out of her body, but suddenly it stopped and a warning lit up one of the screens. Without really reading what the TARDIS was trying to tell him, he gave his permission for the spaceship to continue to do its best to heal Rose. The Doctor wasn't sure that getting rid of the energy would bring her back, but he was confident enough to at least try it.

His confidence paid off.

She started to visually improve just minutes after the time energy had started to leave her body, and the Doctor gave a whimper of relief when he caught sight of her chest rising and falling. She was alive. Suddenly she gave a large lurch, her back lifting off of the table, and she gave a loud scream full of pain.

The Doctor ran to her side. She didn't seem to recognize him, too blinded by the agony that was tearing through every part of her body, lighting her cells on fire, to pay her surroundings much heed. She barely managed to get out a whispered "Make it stop..." before she was consumed once more.

The Doctor stood there in a blind panic for a minute. She was in pain. Whatever he had done, he had caused her pain. He rushed over to the same panel that he had just been messing with and tried to stop the process. On accident he brought up the same warning that had come up before, and this time he actually stopped and read it.

He scanned until he came across a sentence that chilled his blood. The time energy was literally fused to her genes. It was in the very makeup of her body. It had dug its way into the blueprints for his beloved Rose, and was now corrupting the plan. That was why she was in so much pain. The machine was trying to remove all time energy, but to do that it would have to rip her apart. It would be quick. Painful, but quick. A minute more and she would be gone. Dead.

There was no other option.

Well, no, the Doctor thought to himself. There was one other option. If he interrupted the process and left the remaining energy in her, but that would mean that something even worse than death would happen to her. She would become like him. A Timelord.

She screamed once again, and the Doctors hand hovered over the big 'Stop!' button making itself all too convenient. Could he do it? Could he be so selfish? Doing this would mean that he would condemn her to the same thing he had already lived through. She would be forced to watch society's rise and fall. To see death and destruction more times than any soul should be required to see. To forever roam the universe, looking for a home; never finding one. Being immortal meant a loneliness so keen it was the very reason Timelords were born with two hearts. It would mean she would have to give up everything she knew, give up Jackie and her friends, give up earth, her home. She wouldn't be living anymore. She would be alive, yes, but not living.

But if he didn't press stop, if he let this finish, she would be dead. He would never again get to witness her blinding smiles or hear her teasing him. He would never get to hug her or tell her how he felt. He would really be alone. And if he turned her into a Timelady, then he would always have someone. He wouldn't have to worry about her leaving him again. They wouldn't have to say goodbye. No more goodbyes. That was the thing he repeated over and over in his head as he slammed his hand down, sealing both of their fates.

**Ok, the next chapter (hopefully) won't take nearly as long to get posted. Please review, favourite, and follow. It means the WORLD to us! Thanks! ** **readingsloth**


	7. Chapter 7

***Covers head and ducks* I'M SO SORRY. This chapter has been written for like a week now, and we've both just been so busy, that it didn't get posted, but hopefully you enjoy this chapter anyway... Thanks to all those who reviewed, favourited, and followed! We really appreciate it! **

**readingsloth**

**P.S. This chapter was written by me, readingsloth, and I know that I usually don't write Rose's POV, so bear with me if it's a bit different.**

The first thing Rose noticed was pain. It consumed her. It attacked her. It swallowed her, turning everything in her vision black. It felt as if her entire body was being ripped apart. It was so bad that she didn't even realize she was screaming, or that tears were digging trails over her cheeks. All she could think of was the pain.

Suddenly she felt a hesitant hand rest itself against her forehead, and the burning seemed to cease for a minute. She whispered the only thing she could. The only thing she wanted.

"Make it stop..." The hand left her forehead, and she was once again lost.

...

The next time Rose awoke it was much more peaceful. The pain was gone, and she was in a room she recognized as the one she slept in when she was traveling with the Doctor.

The Doctor. Where was he? She tried to stand, but she suddenly felt a stabbing in her chest, as if someone was driving a hot blade through her heart. Rose gave a small wheezing gasp and fell back into the blankets, curling into a ball and trying to resist the urge to scream.

It was only after a few seconds that she noticed the lanky figure standing in the doorway, tears blurring her vision. It was only after he crouched next to her that she noticed the solemn expression on his face.

"I was afraid this might happen." His voice was barely a whisper, and while she tried to pay attention to what he was saying, the pain made that impossible. The Doctor seemed to understand though, because he just sat next to her on the bed and stroked her hair, trying to reassure his companion that he was there, even though he couldn't stop her suffering.

Finally after around thirty minutes, the pain stopped and Rose slowly relaxed on the bed, taking deep calming breaths. She was about to ask the Doctor what had happened when he took her hand and slowly guided it to where her heart was, holding it there and looking at her with the saddest expression she had ever seen grace his features.

For a second everything was like it normally was, but then she moved her hand a little and felt the same thump, thump, thump, that she was familiar with, and suddenly she understood. Two hearts. Timelord.

Rose looked up at the Doctor and he seemed to be debating before he opened up his mouth and uttered the three saddest words he could have said.

"I'm so sorry."

Rose would never understand what she did next, at the time all she was thinking about was one simple phrase, three simple words, _I love you. _But she didn't say it, not yet, instead what she did was sit up slowly and kiss him.

As their lips collided, she thought just one thing. _This was it. _This was when he would either reject her or pull her closer. This was the moment that would decide their entire future.

She didn't have time to consider how awkward it would be if he did reject her, considering that they were pretty much stuck together for all eternity, all she knew was that she was sick of them dancing around their feelings for one another, and if they never had to say goodbye again, then she had to know. Right now. If he felt anything for her.

At first it seemed like the Doctor was going to push her away, tell her no, but instead he pulled her close against him, kissing her back.

They stayed like that for they didn't know how long, clinging to one another and basking in the knowledge that even though Rose knew that she would have to give up a lot. Knew she would be forced into a sort of exile so acute that it would shape the entire way she lived and defined herself. But she also knew that as long as the Doctor was there with her, she would make it through.

It wasn't the first time they had kissed, but the last time she had been possessed, so she wasn't really sure that counted. She ran a hand up his neck and through his hair as he cradled her face in his hands

After a while she broke off the kiss and stared up into the Doctors sad, old, wise eyes. She wanted the moment to continue, but she knew there were a few things they needed to talk about. The Doctor rested his forehead against Rose's for a minute, just basking in the fact that she was alive, and that she didn't blame him for his decision.

"So, how? How did I become a Timelord?"

"Timelady..." He corrected her with a slight smile, still breathing heavily from the kiss.

Rose noticed the Doctor pause before he started his story.

"Well, remember the Niaxorikans? They pushed you into the Rift. That was around three days ago" His voice got heavy with anger and sadness. She nodded for him to continue.

"The Rift pushed you right back out. You see, there just isn't space in the heart of time for anything besides the time energy, so you got thrown out of the Rift, but not before you had absorbed a certain amount of the energy."

She took a moment to take that in before he started again.

"You weren't breathing, so after I tricked the aliens into letting us go, I picked you up and brought you back to the TARDIS." He lost himself in the memories.

"You were so pale, Rose. I was so worried. I thought you had died. You were so pale." He started to tremble and Rose grabbed his hand.

"I'm right here. I'm fine. I'm alive." Her reassurances calmed him slightly, and he continued with his story.

"Well then you started glowing, and I discovered that the TARDIS had a built in mechanism for removing time energy." Rose stared in amazement at the ship around her. Was there anything the TARDIS couldn't do? "But then I discovered that some of the energy had literally worked itself into your genes, and the TARDIS gave me a choice."

He paused, guilt choking him, tying a noose around his heart.

"I could either let you die, or make you like me. You were just in so much pain, I was too selfish. I couldn't let you leave me. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The Doctor took a shaky breath and tightened his hold on Rose.

"I stopped it. I stopped the machine. I left the remainder of the energy in you, turning you into a Timelady. I'm sorry."

Rose took a minute to comprehend what she had just heard. She didn't blame the Doctor, she really didn't, but she had never been under the impression that being a Timelord and death were comparable. She knew there were things that she would have to leave behind, but she had never understood the magnitude of that situation. Rose thought about her mother. She would watch her grow old and die, and Rose would be able to do nothing about it. She would have to watch as her entire planet got destroyed, everyone she loved dead, knowing that there was no way to stop it, no way to go back. She was no longer human, she couldn't be live in a human world. She was no longer part of the world turning, instead she would be forced to watch from a distance as everything changed.

The Doctor could see the shift in her eyes as she really began to understand his decision and what that would mean for her future. He would do anything, give anything, if it meant that they could go back and stop Rose from going into that building, but that was impossible. He wasn't allowed to cross over his own timeline. Instead he vowed that he would do anything and everything he could to make this as easy for her as possible, to give her a home, to keep her from knowing the same sorrow that he did.

Despite the gravity of the situation, there was a little part in both of them that filled with joy at the prospect that they wouldn't have to say goodbye. That there was no time in the future when they would have to leave each other. That they could spend the rest of their practically immortal lives together, exploring the galaxy. Saving planets. Doing what they loved, with the person they loved.

They both knew that there would be a time in the future where this little part would overflow and change the color of both of their minds, but right now they were grey and sorrow.

"Mum. I have to tell her. In person." Rose's words just worked to remind them both that the bad changes would come before the good ones, and that there was no way to avoid them forever.

They both climbed out of bed slowly, Rose pushing the Doctor out the door so that she could change, since she realized that these were the same clothes she had been wearing for...what had the Doctor said...three days? Soon she joined him by the console and grabbed hold to one of the bars, already dreading what they were about to do.

**My life is kinda a mess right now, so it might be a while before I have the time or particular desire to write again, especially happy stuff, so I apologize if it takes a bit longer to get the next chapter, although, like always, reviews, favourites, and follows are definitely motivation**

**readingsloth**


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